Compulsive pet keeping, or

C

clarence

Guest
The Pokemon Syndrome ("Gotta catch 'em all!")

I just gotta vent for a sec.

Now, while 3 people inspired me to write this, I feel certain that none of them are readers of this board, although at least one of them should be.

Lately, I have witnessed a number of people compulsively shopping for pets. They get one, and then, within months they get another. Visiting their houses, the animals appear ok, but at the same time, the lack of care and attention are obvious in the attitudes of the owners, and the lack of knowledge about the animals in their care.

Now, since childhood, I have always lived in a veritable zoo. I've kept everything from arachnids to herps to rabbits to lizards. Heck, I've even kept primates, if you count my little brother. However, like so many people here, I always educated myself thoroughly about my pets, both before I got them, and continuously thereafter. Also, I've never had more pets than I could commit the time and energy raise. Right now, I have 7 critters I care for, not counting the neighborhood cats that seem to consider my front porch a the hip place to chill.

I know many others here that have MANY more than that. I also know that they feel passionately about their animals, and take great care of them.

But, as I was saying, some of the behavior I've observed lately in my neck of the woods, worries me. For instance, one person giving away a pet because, and I quote "I was bored with it," only to find said person shopping for another pet the very next day. Or Culprit #2, who, once a cat is no longer a kitten, goes out and gets another kitten.

This kind of irresponsibility just makes me heartsick.
 
Makes you wonder what kind of parent(s) these people would/do make doesn't it?

Sharon
 
Some of us here are very afflicted with "Pokemon Syndrome" *cough*TIM!*cough*, but like you said, we're all educated. But I received my pac-man frog as a rescue from someone who was bored with it. He was going to throw it out in the snowbank! Then, 2 days later, he got a cornsnake. But I'm totally with you guys on this. Stupid people suck! Damned Bipeds!
 
I had a veritable menagerie as a child, and was totally responsible for thier care. All my fish and mice and rabbits and ferret were fed from my efforts whether gathering food or working to buy food.

I always did my utmost to learn all I could about the individual species needs, though accept looking back I was guilty of getting carried away with tropical fish at one stage. I never bought an animal that would not receive the necessary time to be cared for.

In the past I have rescued several animals from dogs to mice, ducks to baby sparrows ( which in both cases were successful re-releases ) In a lot of cases people have no idea what they are doing , and fall into the "ooh that looks nice mummy* trap and shopkeepers are guilty in a lot of cases of just being interested in the profit they can make.

I think it was time there was an education drive to make people aware publicaly, though it would not end a lot of senseless buying it would end some.
 
Kaysie, I know what you mean. I had a woman come to my ferret rescue, wanting to adopt a ferret. When I asked what her past experience was with ferrets she said, "I owned one until he got cancer. (uh oh)."

Me: What happened when you found out he had cancer?
Her: OH I don't know that he had cancer but he had lumps on his belly. We thought that since he was an animal of nature we should turn him loose so nature could heal him. We are part Indian and believe in the healing power of nature.
Me: You turned him loose? WHERE?
Her: On the mountain near a garbage can so he could find food and maybe some kind people to show him some loving.
Me mentally: WTF!!!!!!!

Needless to say she did NOT adopt from my organisation and I passed her name on the others in my area so they would know who look for. I still get sick to my stomach thinking about that poor cancer ridden ferret trying desperately to leap up 3 friggen feet to the top of a garbage can to get a friggen bite to eat. A captive bred and born ferret trying to live in the wild, in a forest inhabited by bears, big cats, rattlesnakes and scorpions. Just one of the many stupid stories by "pet owners" I run across.

I get the same thing from reptile owners too. The iguana got to big, I didn't know sulcatas' would get that big. I wasn't prepared for the time they would need. WTH??? Did they think it would just graze on dust bunnies???

These same people usually show up dirty nasty crusty faced kids in tow. Since we require a home visit even the ones who try to clean themselves up usually fail to meet the standards.

What was this thread about again? OH yeah, people who horde pets. Sorry got lost in a tangent.
Sharon
 
I think the difference isn't really with the number of animals, but in the personality of the owners. Like that ferret ex-owner--she shouldn't be trusted with even ONE animal, much less a menagerie.

Some dog owners tie their dog to a post and leave them outside in subfreezing weathers while other dog owners spend time (+ $$) to make sure their dogs are well exercised, vaccinated, and cared for. Same goes with caudates, except that unfortunately the consequences of lack of care are more lethal.
sad.gif


I always thought that there should be an episode on Animal cops (this is an American cable TV show) with caudates or even reptiles.
 
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Pin-pin Wei (Apples) wrote on Friday, July 02, 2004 - 23:11 :</font>

"I always thought that there should be an episode on Animal cops (this is an American cable TV show) with caudates or even reptiles."<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

HHHMMM, theres' an idea. A show that attacks lousy breeders (puppy mills), importers with ill stock, petstores with dead animals on display.... Although I turned the tv night before last and stopped in on Animal Planet to see what was happening and (in the middle of dinner no less) just my luck, three animal cops were pulling a dog that had been locked for 3 days in a car with temps in the 100s'F... it was of course dead and it of course looked as if it had died in excruciating pain.

ack, I'm gonna go read a book and try to get the image out of my head.

Sharon
 
I thought I saw a show one time (could have been the Detroit Animal police or something) where they rescued a house full of iguanas.

My theory is people should be required to pass common-sense testing before being able to breed (themselves, or other animals!).
 
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Pin-pin Wei (Apples) wrote on Friday, July 02, 2004 - 23:11 :</font>

"I think the difference isn't really with the number of animals, but in the personality of the owners. Like that ferret ex-owner--she shouldn't be trusted with even ONE animal, much less a menagerie."<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

I fully agree. It's just that, I've noticed many people who exhibit this kind of "collecting" behavior are the same ones that seem to breed this kind of ignorant attitude.

Back again? Yeah, the bird died. How? Dunno, gimme one of the blue ones.

GRRAAAARRRRGGG!

Ok, I'm gonna stop now before I pop an embolism or something.
 
I'm more of a tropical fish keeper than a newt keeper, but all of the above can be applied to fish too. Hard tell, but I think I may have come across this site 1 year before actually thinking of getting them...which mean't a few weeks of googling, and finding info(not much on keeping newts unfortuanately, this site was the most helpful...loved the articles). By far the thing that frustrates me the most is watching people carry a tank around the store with a bag of fish inside, which are soon to be added to the tank.

Now, I'll go ahead and quote some stuff I have heard while browsing fish stores.

"I love bettas, but they always die on me."

*looking at firebelly toads*. What are those, guppies?

Customer(has just been asked what is in her tank): Oh, we have a 55 gallon tank with some "Chicklids" koi, a betta, and a bichir.

Storekeeper: Thats not exactly a good idea...some of those fish require dif water conditions. But, if you still want to add fish, I can't stop you.

Customer: Ok, can you get that striped one in the back please?

The worst one by far(2 Petsmart customer and a storekeeper talking with eachother).

Customer: Yeah, so you buy a whole bunch of fish and you put them in your tank, and then suddenly they all die! Expensive hobby!

*Everyone laughs*

(Message edited by fishkeeper on July 03, 2004)
 
The problem with the empty cage syndrome is that it is not restricted to beginners or those with poor husbandry skills. I have even seen institutions that had enclosures with animals packed into every available space. (I have on occasion piked up a new species to me to work with it and determine its husbandry like the two Lygodactylus I have (I suspect L. capensis, they look like little Phelsuma klemmeri) but I do not tend to do this with rare or delicate species).

More modern pet owners have access to a wealth of information that was not available when I was getting into the hobby. As a consequence there was a learning curve where you lost animals and learned the dos and don'ts for that species. A European friend of mine has a saying with regards to dart frogs; "experience and knowledge are directly proportional to number of frogs killed". To some extent this still applies but not as much anymore as the information out there becomes more and more complete and readily available but there are always exceptions that will only be known when the species in question is kept in captivity.
Ed
 
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Edward Kowalski (Ed) wrote on Saturday, July 03, 2004 - 03:30 :</font>

""<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

True, but some people just don't learn. Buy animals again and again....and they die, and they don't know why...and they don't research. Plus, the critters are cheap. No excuse if you refuse to learn.

(Message edited by fishkeeper on July 03, 2004)

(Message edited by fishkeeper on July 03, 2004)
 
In these cases I would prefer them to purchase cb animals as opposed to wc animals as this then does not impact the wild populations.

This is the type of person everyone likes to complain about but in reality what portion of the trade does this person comprise? You cannot prevent the actions of this sort of person as you would then be prohibiting the sale to all persons as you would not have any way to differentiate between the types of owners.

One of the items we need to face (right or wrong) is that the majority of animal purchases are impulse buys regardless if it is a $2.99 newt or a $2000 dog. This is the current reality of the pet trade.
The best thing that can happen is that more cb animal be made available. I known this is a harsh stand to take but I would prefer that person to go through 100 cb cornsnakes in a year than one wc Cynops.

Ed
 
It's easy to condemn the ferret-lady and others like that. But even some of the BEST pet keepers are afflicted, to varying degrees, with Pokemon Syndrome.

I know from my own experience, that when I have too many animals, I'm more prone to neglect small problems or postpone a few water or soil changes. And the result has occasionally been tragic.

There is a natural human tendency to "collect". We all have it, to varying degrees. And there's also a natural human tendency to want things that are "rare" over things that are sensible. Unfortunately, these normal human tendencies have terrible effects on animals. These effects range from obvious evil (marketing endangered species) to well-intentioned (simply having too many pets and occasionally things go wrong that could have been avoided with fewer to care for). If I think too hard about all of this, I sometimes wonder if I should get out of this hobby entirely. Are my actions having a positive or negative impact on animals overall? I'm not sure.
 
Hi Jenni,
In my opinion, as long as you produce more cb animals than wc animals of the same species that you add to your collection than you are having a net positive impact as this can then reduce the total number of wc animals sold reducing demand on wc animals to supply the pet trade. With species that you have not bred yet, it is worth the effort to breed them as their offspring will then help to reduce the impact on wc animals. (But this does nothing for habitat destruction but donating a portion of the proceeds from your offspring could help here).

This is why it is important for people interested in these animals to captive breed the animals in their collection and distribute offspring.
Look at Cynops orientalis, they currently run anywhere from 2 for $5.00 to $3.99 each at the different pet stores and are so common that most people don't pay them any attention yet it was C. pyrrogaster that was in this situation in the 1980s and early 1990s (which is now a desiriable newt and it is possible that in 5-8 years orientalis will be in the same situation).

Ed
 
2 for 5.00? Never seen it that low. The lowest I've ever seen was at Petco for 2.79 or 3.79. I think they were in pretty good condition or just arrived when I saw them, as they all were in the water. That was about 1 year ago.
 
on the subject of dogs - i know of 2 women - one is a millionaire and the other is a section 8 from the army who gets 2000$ a month disability and has no permenant home (she was living with my family once and moved on to a mobile home) -both of these women had dogs one had 2 one had 3. the woman with 3 had to put one down because it was one of her 2 outdoor dogs and was 'getting too old' so she had them both put down because she didnt want to deal with them anymore (she kept her indoor one), the section 8 woman was contemplating putting down her 2 dogs -brother and sister- because they were 'old'(the walked/ate and played fine) and she didnt want to deal with them anymore. i even got upset with my mom because she pressured her husband to put down 'luke' (a vishla-sp??) because he was bleeding on the couch from hamburger like warts on his skin. i know he wasnt far off from needing it but he was still happy and though arthritic for years -he was active enough to take care of himself. her comment was she didnt want to deal with the blood stains....

on the subject of learning from mistakes - before i got my computer i read books -most of which i had to buy cause the library is cra p on the amphibian subjects- i lost a good many some due to misinformation from the books (and even an english 'expert') -but only 1 or 2 at a time, it wasnt till i was sure of my abilities that i attempted other animals/groups (i buy groups so i can lessen the chance of inbreeding -since animals sold at 1 time that look alike should be the same animal-my intent is to breed them ) i have had 7 PDF's over the past 4 years -lost them all (got 4 in one trade and bought 3 later) the last time i kept them was 2.5 years ago and i will not attempt them again for at least another 2 years -i have no faith in doing them right until i educate myself more. i have good oppertunities to buy reed frogs in bulk-some at 5 $ each-but since the vendor doesnt know what species they are i refuse to buy them since i cannot breed them true. there are some caudate species too i can obtain yet will not attempt because i feel they are too difficult for me (it might be ok if i only had like 5 tanks-but not at my current volume). i think education is the best defense against this -but the people who are prone to the excessive impulse behaviour are not the type to be told they are wrong because they 'believe' they are right (can you say denile?)...kind of reminds me of 7 year old mentality -(if you believe it with all your heart then it must be true, and your not a bad person after all...hmm reminds me of a certain *cough*"W"*cough* president......)
 
being an ex-petsmart employee (trust me, i only worked there because i pitied the reptiles, and think i managed to do some good while i was there) I saw this all the time. It was the worst with red eared sliders. some quotes:

"Oh, i dont need a fancy cage, i am just going to put it in a shoe box and feed it lettuce"

"we dont need a big tank, it just needs to live long enough until our son gets bored with it"

"we are just going to let him go in our pond" (followed by the sounds of me strangling said customer)


C: "give me some of them chicken fish"
Me: "you mean the chiclids? what kind of other fish do you have?"
C: "some of dem blue and red ones, those tiger guys, a gold fish, and algie sucker"
Me: *sigh*

I once had a mother and son come in from a local herp show with a hatchling nile monitor. the ensuing conversation went like this:

Me: "Hi! nice nile monitor you have there, need some help getting him set up?"
C: "yeah, we were thinking about this tank" (points to 10 gallon)
Me: "well that will be fine for the first week or two, but you should really get at least a 55 gallon to house him in for the first 6 months"
C: (blank stares) "why?"
Me: "you are aware this lizard gets about 6 feet long and are known to have attitude problems, right?"
Mother: "uhh, i think we need to take him back"

i think the biggest problem i had was that people treat the pets like commiditys, to be used until they bring them no more pleasure and then thrown away.

on a related note, i went into petco today to look for waxworms and noticed they still sell green iguanas. i thought most people had realized they make terrible pets....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top